Chapter 358: Powerful
The resistance in Shandong was fierce and came from the bottom of their hearts, as they believed that Liu Heng was going too far.
Since ancient times, it has never been heard of treating noble people harshly because of lowly people.
It is people like us who maintain the emperor's rule, it is people like us who become generals and ministers, and it is even people like us who provide money, manpower and manpower during wars.
But now they are cutting our flesh to feed those lowly people. How can this be justified?
This is the innermost thought of most people, and this thought is not held by a certain person, but the consciousness of an entire group. Even this consciousness is extremely difficult to change.
Even those passionate and righteous students today, many of them, as they grow older, accumulate wealth, and own more land, will one day join this group, and they will even become stronger because of the rich knowledge they possess.
Someone wrote to the emperor and asked, "Your Majesty has always governed your country with benevolence, but now that you have achieved success, why do you want to abandon the practices that made you prosperous?
If Liu cannot obtain a noble status, how will you demonstrate your majesty?
If the nobles cannot protect the family, then in what ways does your grace manifest itself?
I am really worried about your empire. Has there ever been a dynasty that could last long without winning the support of the people?"
These people wrote letters not only expressing their own thoughts, but also saying that there were many other people pushing for it. Even in Chang'an City, there were some people who supported Liu Heng on the surface, but secretly arranged people to hinder the implementation of the policy.
When Liu Heng learned of this, he angrily rebuked him, “The life and death, fortune and misfortune of a minister are determined by heaven, but the decline of grace, honor and disgrace are determined by the monarch.
My mercy is not only bestowed upon you, but also upon the common people, and even upon the birds and beasts. This is the bright path leading to the Holy King.
He receives salary from the monarch, accepts land granted by the monarch, and enjoys power granted by the monarch, yet he speaks such words that slander the monarch.
It is hindering the monarch from becoming a holy king!
Is this what a subject should do?
How shameless this is.
Are you, such a person without moral integrity, worthy to stand under the same sky with me?"
At this point, many strong-willed people could not bear the humiliation and committed suicide.
After all, if he didn't want to live under the same blue sky, and it was impossible for him to let the emperor commit suicide, he could only do it heroically himself.
These people would rather die than admit that they are wrong and that they are immoral people.
Such an action brought Liu Heng back to his senses from his anger. The stubbornness deep in the minds of these people made Liu Heng feel unbelievable. This was completely different from his basic thinking after receiving Luo Xin's teachings.
Liu Heng then said: "I have heard that the ancient saints would help the poor, feed the hungry, and clothe the cold.
The sage king did this, and there was no more poverty, hunger, and cold in the world, and the world was governed into a prosperous era.
You have countless gold, silver, and beautiful jade, so much so that they fill your secret rooms. Copper coins are piled up in your cellars like small mountains. You wear precious silks and satins, which you change every day and then throw away at will. How extravagant it is!
Look at the people in the fields. They work hard in the fields all day long, and the sun shines on their bodies, making their skin dark.
Dirt and sweat mixed together, so his face could not be seen clearly. He was wearing a linen shirt that could be found everywhere, with many holes in it, but he was reluctant to throw it away.
You still have to face taxes and corvee labor, and the only surplus food you can save at the end of the year is just enough for one meal.
I am really disappointed.
This is not monarchy, but brutality, and the danger of the Han dynasty’s collapse lies in this.”
The country is overthrown!
Liu Heng's words were so heavy that his determination was revealed in them, and the whole world suddenly fell silent.
The Confucian scholars shouted that Liu Heng was the sage king sent by heaven to bring peace. With such a backbone supporting them, they were more motivated.
The students from the Legalist and Xunzi schools also made great progress in this action. The motivation of these two schools of students was simply off the charts.
When officials were sent from the imperial court to various places, their methods of supervision and administration were naturally different. The methods of the Legalists had always been cruel. Although their ideas had changed a little, their methods would not change. They would just use the Han laws and start enforcing the law.
A few years ago, Luo Jing gathered powerful people from all over the world in Handan, and then moved most of them to Guanzhong. Many of those powerful families became officials in the imperial court, and then during this land survey process, they followed Shangguan back to their hometown.
If the most powerful tyrant leaves the local area, the remaining second-tier tyrants will naturally occupy the original ecological niche.
Whether it was the students of the Legalist School or the powerful people who voluntarily left the local area, they all felt unhappy when they saw these people.
In addition, there are no powerful people in this world who make their fortunes cleanly. These people must have committed illegal acts that violated Han laws. As a result, the situation quickly developed to the point where the officials sent by the court used Han laws to bankrupt these local powerful people.
Land survey turned into house raiding!
This matter soon reached Liu Heng's ears, and he immediately summoned Luo Jing and Jia Yi to discuss it.
"This kind of trend must not be encouraged!"
The three of them quickly set the tone, which was that this trend could not be allowed to continue.
Liu Heng said with some recollection: "When King Luo Wen taught me, he specifically told me that unless it was absolutely necessary, I must never use cruel politics.
On the surface, the politics of cruel officials can quickly remove some harmful tyrants, but in fact the consequences are endless harm, which will completely deteriorate the political situation and bottom line of the entire country. Once it is destroyed, it will be extremely difficult to recover. "
Is the political purge of the powerful by cruel officials fast?
quick!
This is obvious to all. As long as the emperor supports it, killing those powerful people is as easy as killing pigs. Kill all the powerful people, and then divide the land and wealth, and the counties will be well governed.
It sounds really wonderful.
Then what?
New powerful people are born, and they learn from previous experiences to become stronger. They are killed again and fall into this cycle forever.
Liu Heng now has enough ability and prestige to do these things. What if the next emperor does not have enough prestige to kill those powerful people?
At that time, the local people were all born hostile to the imperial court!
Whenever Liu Heng thought about it, he felt that the scene was too horrible, which was one of the main reasons why he changed the policy of forcing the mausoleum city to exist.
Will the man who first created clay figures for burials have no descendants?
The court has repeatedly used those tricks, which has caused great harm to politics.
As for the powerful people, they have always been in power, so it is only natural to clean them up. Just listen to this.
If they could really act in accordance with the law, Luo's attitude towards the Legalists might change a lot.
But the truth is, the emperor has the final say on whether to sit in the court or not, and also on how to deal with the situation after sitting in the court.
In real history, Huo Qubing killed Li Gan. According to previous precedents, this should have been a death penalty, but Emperor Wu of Han did not take it seriously at all.
Even a great ruler like Emperor Wu of Han, who was one of the top five rulers in history, treated the law in this way. One can imagine what attitude other monarchs would have.
In this era of absolute monarchy, talking about the rule of law is like warning wolves not to eat sheep. It is not enough to describe it as ridiculous, it can only be described as absurd.
It was precisely because Luo saw this that he adapted to the situation and put human rule as the main approach and legal rule as the auxiliary approach. At least Luo was confident in his own moral character.
In terms of the country, Luo hoped to form a form of "how it should be done" by balancing the relationship between morality and the rule of law, somewhat like "customary law", to determine what to do according to local conditions and actual circumstances, rather than simply enforcing the law to kill people.
Liu Heng was deeply influenced by this kind of thinking, so since he took power, even though he exiled so many officials, not many people resented him. Even those exiled officials cried bitterly, thinking that they were wrong and that Liu Heng had given them the highest grace.
Not to mention the other officials, who did not feel sympathy for their own kind or grief over the death of a rabbit. Instead, they secretly warned themselves not to touch the bottom line of His Majesty the Emperor.
Liu Heng gained too many benefits from this way of doing things, and he hated direct confrontation the most.
“How can we use the sitting law as an excuse to clean up these people?
Apart from the Luo family, are there any officials in this world who do not break the law?
Immediately send an envoy to Jiaodong State to convey my order to stop the confiscation of property. This is really looking for trouble for me."
Liu Heng made a decision quickly. He first wanted to set an example for other court officials and tell them that they could not use simple legal reasons to survey the land.
Even if we have to kill these people, we must let the people of the world know that we are killing you because you are going against the trend of the times. The court has known about you for a long time, but has always given you opportunities. It was you who refused them and even took advantage of them. The emperor had no choice but to kill you.
Liu Heng's order was soon transmitted to Shandong by messenger. Those powerful people who were filled with grief and indignation gradually calmed down in the face of Liu Heng's appeasement. Those officials who were eager to try restrained their thoughts of killing people.
We began to slowly push forward the land investigation according to the normal process. After this incident, many people who had previously tried to stop it became a little more cooperative.
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Emperor Taizong of Han was a highly respected emperor in ancient China. He represented the ideal emperor of the literati, that is, the emperor himself was smart and wise, and was good at listening to the advice of his subjects. He was close to those with outstanding abilities and stayed away from those who were detrimental to the country. He was always able to understand the difficulties of his subjects and did not require them to be morally perfect. In some aspects, he was not obsessed with the implementation of the law, but he never trampled on it. Instead, he thought that the law might not be reasonable enough, but his subjects knew his bottom line, that is, they should not trample on people's lives at will. ——"Global History of the Qin and Han Dynasties Volume 3"
(End of this chapter)
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